AuthorTopic: How to play? (Read 2324 times)

As a newbie* with very little free time available since my Zendrum ZX arrived (but the little playing I've had time for has been great, even though I've not bought any sounds for it yet - I'm simply playing the sounds included in Garageband), I haven't yet started experimenting with layouts. Posts like this thread, and the stuff in the tips & tricks section give a good starting point now that I'm about to start with that, but there is one question I haven't seen addressed anywhere:

What's the deal with the default setups?

I assume there's some thought behind the defaults, but I've not been able to figure out how to play sensibly using the default mappings. Does anyone play with something similar to the defaults, and if so, how do you play? It's confusing that the only tutorial on the site uses a completely different layout.

Also, any other tips for a newbie besides what's in the Tips & Tricks section is appreciated.

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* I'm a complete newbie, since my background is a wind player and not a drummer. So I'm learning it all from scratch - I can't simply take things I already know and play them in a new way on my new drum. The only drumming I've done before was in a recent three day course given to all teachers at the school where I work (as a wind teacher). The subject was oriental music, and we had Lars Bo Kujahn as a guest to teach us, among other things, to play Arabian tabla. That was great, btw. Dum te-ke ke-tek, dum te-ke ke-tek, dum te-ke ke-tek, dum dum tek!

I pretty much use the default layout number 15. I just learned with that layout when I got it, and it stuck. I found David Kuckerman's video invaluable when I started, I followed it and it made sense. Using the default layout, I would pick out your basic rock beat with your right hand, similar to what David is doing. Kick, hihat, snare. Get comfortable with that. Then use your left hand to start adding in more kick, snare and hihat patterns.

Don't worry about using all the pads at first. Find drum patterns that you want to emulate and go slow. The cool thing and the difficult thing about the zen is there is no specific way to play it. But the defaults work for me, and I think are a good jumping off point.

That was interesting. The hour since my last post has been spent playing. (My right arm has had enough for tonight.) Now the default makes sense (or at least no 15 does). This is a bit different method than the instructions in the tips & tricks section. The one thing they have in common is doing the basic groove with one hand to have the other free to add extra flavour.

I often switch to a setup where all of my ride/hihat/whataver is at the tail, and bass/snare along the left, alternating. This is fairly easy setup for kit drummers to adapt to, and it literally lets you stretch your chest a bit. You change your cymbals just by slightly moving your fingers, and can even adjust bass snare sounds very easily.

However, not coming from a drumming background, I'm not sure how well that would apply to you. Give it a whirl.